KatyQuilts

It has been a busy week around here. Hubby is gone and that always seems like a good time to paint. Daughter #3 and I have repainted Daughter #1’s old room. We still have trim to paint and the carpet to clean and then she can move in. After that, her old room will become the guest room. I hope to get that painted as well before hubby comes home. Not much sewing has happened but I did make progress on the QOV I showed earlier this week.

This will have a border of the flag fabric added and the the top will be done. I hope to get it loaded today but since I work this afternoon, it is iffy.
Back to work!

After I presented the QOV to Houston last week, a coworker asked how her husband could get a quilt too. He is a Gulf War vet and served with the Marines. I told her I would be honored to make a quilt for him. I came home and for several days, I could not come up with an idea that felt right. I have several projects on my to do list right now but I haven’t yet made a QOV for June. I try to complete one a month. I had some bits and pieces from an earlier failed idea and started throwing them up on the wall.

Okay, not quite right but there is something there. I walked away, posted a pic on the QOV Facebook page and someone suggested more white. I ran some errands and came back.

Yep, that was the ticket! I still need to add an outer border of the flag fabric. I will have just enough.
I think this will be a really fun one to quilt. But that won’t happen for a while. DH is on a business trip to Asia so I am in charge of lawn care while he is gone. Daughter #3 and I are also getting ready to paint her new room. Her current room will become the guest room. And then there is the day job…..
BTW, if any of my readers in Michigan is looking for a midarm quilting machine, I am ready to sell my Hobby Quilter. I set it up in my family room so anyone interested could try it out. It is stitching beautifully and is cleaned up and ready to go.

Time to get a move on. So much to do today!

If you have read my blog for even a week, you know that I have  a warm place in my heart for our veterans. I have been a volunteer with the Quilts of Valor Foundation for over a year now. However. this past week was the first time I have presented a quilt to one of our vets in person.

I am a librarian and the branch that I work at has security guards that work in the afternoons. One of our guards has come to be a friend. Mr. Houston Jackson served in Viet Nam when he was just 21 years old. He got to come home a bit early because his son was born while he was overseas. He is now retired but works as a security guard, not for the money, but to be out in the community, to interact with young people, to be a role model. And he is all that and more. He loves the Lord and it shows. He teaches Sunday school and is active in his church. On the days when he is not at the library, he works at one of the toughest high schools in the county. He volunteered for this position because he knows the kids need someone to teach them to respect themselves and others.

I felt a while back that I was to make a QOV for my friend Houston. This past Wednesday, I was able to present it to him in person.

Isn’t that a beautiful smile? He told me that in the 42 years since he left Viet Nam, he has never received anything for his service until I gave him this quilt. He was so appreciative and so shocked that anyone would do something like this for him.  So many of our vets were treated so poorly when they came home. It was such an honor to make and present a quilt to thank him for his service and to finally say to him, “Welcome Home.”

Here is a full picture of the quilt.

And that is why I do what I do. Until next time…